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Plural valuation of nature is key for inclusive and fair sustainability policies. Although there is a growing awareness of the importance of incorporating multiple values of nature in decision making, inclusive processes of this type are rare, limited to consultations, or have little transparency regarding their translation into public policy. Especially in nature conservation schemes such as protected areas, the integration of values from local communities is much needed. In this article, we analyze the experience of the Forest Stewards Network in Xalapa, Mexico, to show how plural valuation and the recognition of the inseparable link between the values of nature and the values that shape social organization can contribute to environmental decision making. We present the method of collective creation of utopias by drawing-telling as a practice to elicit and integrate multiple values in decision-making processes. We applied a participatory art-based plural valuation approach, structured in five stages: (1) a collective diagnosis of the problem(s), (2) creating individual utopias through drawings and narratives, (3) integrating values in collective utopia, (4) strategic planning, and (5) collective action. This method led to significant results in relation to learning, values, decision making, and action, fostering mutual understanding and diversity as principles for a more horizontal organization. We conclude by highlighting the importance of learning and experimenting around inclusive decision-making processes at all levels, as well as the significant contributions of grassroots organizations to this matter.

The idea of sustainability is intrinsically normative. Thus, understanding the role of normativity in sustainability discourses is crucial for further developing sustainability science. In this article, we analyze three important documents that aim to advance sustainability and explore how they organize norms in relation to sustainability. The three documents are: the Pope’s Encyclical Laudato Si’, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We show that understanding the role of different types of norms in the three documents can help understand normative features of both scientific and non-scientific sustainability discourses. We present the diverse system of norms in a model that interrelates three different levels: macro, meso, and micro. Our model highlights how several processes affect the normative orientation of nations and societies at the meso-level in different ways. For instance, individual ethical norms at the micro-level, such as personal responsibility, may help decelerate unsustainable consumerism at the aggregate meso-level. We also show that techno-scientific norms at the macro-level representing global indicators for sustainability may accelerate innovations. We suggest that our model can help better organize normative features of sustainability discourses and, therefore, to contribute to the further development of sustainability science.

Mutual learning is a fundamental element in transdisciplinary (Td) sustainability research. It allows for integrating knowledge and experiences gained in different contexts, including the building of consensus about necessary transformations to reach sustainability solutions. To successfully achieve mutual learning, appropriate conditions are required. These range from providing boundary objects that serve knowledge integration, the development of a common language and knowledge, and shared experiences to transparency concerning the objectives and motives of all those involved. Mutual learning is particularly challenging from an intercultural perspective in both local and global processes. Interaction among the participants is based on experiential, educational, and cultural dimensions that induce different types of knowledge and cognition, thought styles, socializations, constraints and preferences in socio-political structures and day-to-day practices. In this article, formats of case-based Mutual Learning Sessions ( cb MLS) that organize mutual learning based on a single case or a set of cases are presented. The different formats have been developed and studied in the context of a global Td process on phosphorus management (i.e., the Global TraPs project). After presenting the formats of cb MLS, the paper presents the first results from an empirical, integrated qualitative study based on interviews and observations, and discusses potentials and limitations of cb MLS, in particular their application in an international context. We further highlight challenges and learning experiences that have to be met in Td mutual learning processes.

Action-oriented, transformative, and transdisciplinary approaches are increasingly heralded as promising tools that enable researchers not only to produce new knowledge about a situation, but also to actively engage in tackling it; however, such approaches raise critical questions about the methodological implications and conflicts involved in pursuing multiple objectives concurrently. This article seeks to advance this debate by examining the methodological implications of pursuing both knowledge production-oriented (epistemic) and action-oriented (transformative) objectives in urgent and uncertain situations. It asks how far a transformative mixed methods research design can leverage the potential of research to achieve multiple objectives in times of crisis. This methodological inquiry is based on a transformative mixed methods study on housing conditions and well-being which was initiated during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Switzerland. The study was composed of a country-wide survey, mobile crowdsourcing, interviews and Citizen Think Tanks. The results of this methodological reflection illustrate how this research design made it possible to (i) explore the effects of the crisis on domestic living spaces, (ii) engage with the crisis in a joint research space, and (iii) stimulate empowerment through reflection and mutual learning. These insights suggest the multidimensional orientation of the transformative mixed methods approach is appropriate for acting upon urgent crises. However, it challenges core methodological values and research constellations including (i) tackling unequal engagement opportunities, (ii) navigating social and epistemic control, and (iii) paying attention to situatedness and positionality. The article concludes that, in anticipation of future crises, favorable conditions for multi-targeted, collaborative research need to be fostered, both on the institutional and on personal levels. These conditions should enable fast and adequate team formation, as well as reflection and negotiation of positionalities, and divergent interests and objectives, of both scientists and citizens.

Community-based approaches to natural resource management are being discussed and experienced as promising ways for pursuing ecological conservation and socio-economic development simultaneously. However, the multiplicity of levels, scales, objectives and actors that are involved in sustainability transformations tends to be challenging for such bottom-up approaches. Collaborative and polycentric governance schemes are proposed for dealing with those challenges. What has not been fully explored is how knowledge from local contexts of community-based initiatives can be diffused to influence practices on higher levels and/or in other local contexts. This study explores how theoretical advances in the diffusion of grassroots innovation can contribute to understanding and supporting the diffusion of knowledge and practices from community-based initiatives and proposes a transdisciplinary approach to diffusion. For that aim, we develop an analytical perspective on the diffusion of grassroots innovations that takes into consideration the multiplicity of actors, levels and scales, the different qualities/types of knowledge and practices, as well as their respective contributions. We focus on the multiplicity and situatedness of cognitive frames and conceptualize the diffusion of grassroots innovations as a transdisciplinary process. In this way three different diffusion pathways are derived in which the knowledge and practices of grassroots initiatives can be processed in order to promote their (re)interpretation and (re)application in situations and by actors that do not share the cognitive frame and the local context of the originating grassroots initiative. The application of the developed approach is illustrated through transdisciplinary research for the diffusion of sustainable family farming innovations in Colombia. This conceptualization accounts for the emergence of multiplicity as an outcome of diffusion by emphasizing difference as a core resource in building sustainable futures.

The International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2017 brought together representatives of different world regions, institutions, cultures, and communities. It was co-organized by the td-net of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.

Despite substantial focus on sustainability issues in both science and politics, humanity remains on largely unsustainable development trajectories. Partly, this is due to the failure of sustainability science to engage with the root causes of unsustainability. Drawing on ideas by Donella Meadows, we argue that many sustainability interventions target highly tangible, but essentially weak, leverage points (i.e. using interventions that are easy, but have limited potential for transformational change). Thus, there is an urgent need to focus on less obvious but potentially far more powerful areas of intervention. We propose a research agenda inspired by systems thinking that focuses on transformational 'sustainability interventions', centred on three realms of leverage: reconnecting people to nature, restructuring institutions and rethinking how knowledge is created and used in pursuit of sustainability. The notion of leverage points has the potential to act as a boundary object for genuinely transformational sustainability science.

The International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2017 brought together representatives of different world regions, institutions, cultures, and communities. It was co-organized by the td-net of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany.

Plural valuation of nature is key for inclusive and fair sustainability policies. Although there is a growing awareness of the importance of incorporating multiple values of nature in decision making, inclusive processes of this type are rare, limited to consultations, or have little transparency regarding their translation into public policy. Especially in nature conservation schemes such as protected areas, the integration of values from local communities is much needed. In this article, we analyze the experience of the Forest Stewards Network in Xalapa, Mexico, to show how plural valuation and the recognition of the inseparable link between the values of nature and the values that shape social organization can contribute to environmental decision making. We present the method of collective creation of utopias by drawing-telling as a practice to elicit and integrate multiple values in decision-making processes. We applied a participatory art-based plural valuation approach, structured in five stages: (1) a collective diagnosis of the problem(s), (2) creating individual utopias through drawings and narratives, (3) integrating values in collective utopia, (4) strategic planning, and (5) collective action. This method led to significant results in relation to learning, values, decision making, and action, fostering mutual understanding and diversity as principles for a more horizontal organization. We conclude by highlighting the importance of learning and experimenting around inclusive decision-making processes at all levels, as well as the significant contributions of grassroots organizations to this matter.

There is significant potential for family farming to contribute to several dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. Our research aims to provide insights to help strengthen sustainable family farming. We focus on initiatives that have advanced sustainable family farming innovations in Colombia and analyse the factors and dynamics that have led to the limited penetration of those innovations across the country. To that aim, a transformative methodology is applied involving representatives of farmers’ associations, supporting organisations and researchers from various disciplinary fields. We analyse the network of initiatives against the conceptual background of sociotechnical niches and identify a stable niche where generic lessons are being systematically identified and used to establish replication projects. However, this niche is still limited in its breadth, which results in a low capacity for expansion and a strong dependency on international donors for reproducing experiences. Specific recommendations are outlined for broadening the type of actors involved in the interpretation and dissemination of lessons from the niche. Moreover, we outline suggestions for further research and conceptualisation in two directions: for exploring effective ways of broadening the niche and translating niche lessons to state policies and for deepening the understanding of interactions between the niche and other levels.